Religious Liberty and Public Schools
 



Pagans have experienced continual deprivations of civil rights in the practice of our faith since the 4th century of the common era, when Pagans were forbidden by law to teach throughout the Roman Empire.  Today in America, separation of church and state are being eroded, due to the increasingly successful efforts of the Radical Religious Right to use public education as a propaganda tool.

The Bush Administration is now filling the courts with appellate  court judges appointed for a lifetime; this will make our struggle for legal equality all the more costly and difficult. 

The papers, articles, cases, and regulations published here are for informational purposes and do not constitute legal advice, nor is CUUPS-TwinCities, the Pagan Institute, or Christa Landon responsible for any consequences you may experience as you act to preserve or extend your religious freedom.


This page will include NEWS and NEW RESOURCES.  They will then be archived here.
Attorneys, scholars, and others are invited to contribute their materials. Please e-mail the Editor.


Press releases appear with a white background.  Consider the source.

 
Below you'll find

>
  Just the Facts: Religion and the Law in Public Schools from Americans United
      abstract:  Public schools need not be "religion-free" zones. Here is a rundown of what can and
      cannot take place in public schools when it comes to religion.
>  Bush Administration Distorts Sex Education in public Schools

>  A Parent's Guide to Religion in Public Schools
>  Paganism being taught in Public Schools Fantasy and Fear Mongering

>  Wicca Article by Middle School Student Sparks Outcry
>
  After 73 days, Native American student allowed to go back to class
>
  Leave my child out of your evangelism
High School Diversity Day Features Wicca, Dispells ignorance and prejudice!
>  Back to School with the Radical Right
>  School Prayer
>  Creationism
>  Textbook Controversies
>  Mandated "In God We Trust" Signs in Public Schools
>  Bible Studies in Public Schools
>  Abstinence Only Sexual Education
>  Anti-Gay Propaganda; Attacks on Gay Student Protections
>  Censorship
>  "Awesome God" Banned From School Talent Show
> 
Bush Administration Distorts Sex Education in Public Schools
No Child Left Unrecruited and what you can do about it!
Resources to help you obtain Conscientious Objector Status

Teaching About Religion in Public Schools
Teaching About Religion: a press release and a Pagan commentary
School Loses Prayer Appeal
Wiccan teen needs help in discrimination case

Pagan Child Insulted by CA Ed Secretary
Wiccan Teen Forced to attend church services, denied books
>  Efforts to "Christianize" Alabama Public Schools Meet Resistance from The Interfaith Alliance
>  School Children to Be Fingerprinted
>
  Christians Seeking to Use the Public School System for Evangelization
>   Teacher-led Prayer
Evolution and Creationism in the Public Schools
Teaching ABOUT Religion in Public Schools
Allies, Resources, and Links

Press release from People for the American Way
"Dang Heathens!"


Believe it or not, that "dang heathens" quote is from a Texas school official crowing about choosing a Bible course that violates the First Amendment -- it promotes Christian fundamentalism in public schools. In a lawsuit recently filed in federal court, PFAWF lawyers are representing eight parents who want to stop it. Will you help us help them?

Protect the separation between church and state with a tax-deductible donation of $30, $45, $75 or any amount you can afford.

In Odessa, Texas, the county school board is using a curriculum created by the right-wing National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools (NCBCPS). On the organization's Web site, a NCBCPS board member suggests contacting NCBCPS as the "first step to get God back into your public school."

There is a right way to teach about the Bible in public schools, but this isn't it. The Bible can't be used in public schools to promote religion in general, or to promote one religion over others. In Odessa, students have been required to give "true" or "false" answers to statements involving matters of religious faith, including Jesus' resurrection.

I wish I could tell you that what is happening in Odessa is an isolated case. But it's not.

In 2000, People For the American Way Foundation's expose of "Bible History"-teaching in Florida public high schools documented stunning material in exams and lesson plans, including:

Why is it hard for a non-Christian to understand things about God?
Q. Who, according to Jesus, is the father of the Jews? A. The Devil
In response to our report, the state of Florida put an end to those classes. But unconstitutional courses are still being promoted all over the country.

Back in Texas, the legislature this year considered a bill to require all school districts to offer high school elective courses about the Bible. The original bill promoted one religious view of the Bible and included no requirements for teacher training. It was a recipe for disaster. The Texas office of our affiliate, People For the American Way, and PFAW's legal team, presented important analysis and testimony to the state legislature about the bill's constitutional failings, and the bill was substantially amended to provide vital protections.

But even impressive victories like these don't stop the Religious Right groups that are relentless about using public schools to promote their brand of religion. They're bringing the movement's money and legal firepower to Odessa.

This is one case we can ill-afford to lose. If you care about the First Amendment, join with us now. If you want to protect America’s children from religious indoctrination at the taxpayer's expense, help make sure these Odessa parents prevail. If you know it's the right thing to do, do it today.

Protect the separation between church and state with a tax-deductible donation of $30, $45, $75 or any amount you can afford.

People For the American Way Foundation has a 25-year tradition of protecting the separation of church and state. As a father, I feel strongly about protecting parents' rights to raise their children as they think is best. Please do whatever you can to help.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Ralph G. Neas
President, People For the American Way Foundation

P.S. Religious teaching belongs at home or in houses of worship. Not in the public schools. And not at the taxpayers' expense. Help defend religious liberty and the separation of church and state. Help us WIN in Odessa.

To contact us online, please use the web form at:
http://www.pfaw.org/go/contact_us/

http://www.kintera.org/site/lookup.asp?c=feIJKQMEF&b=2838285

A Parent's Guide to Religion in the Public Schools

The Clinton administration's 2000, "A Parent's Guide to Religion in the Public Schools", that was distributed  to all public schools in America, has been revised by the Bush administration in 2003 and similarly distributed to all public schools.

It is available at: http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org./PDF/parentsguidereligion.PDF

Bush Administration Distorts Sex Education in public Schools

BIRDS AND BEES 101 -- it gives examples of lies and scientific inaccuracies being taught to our teens by Bush's federally-funded abstinence-only program -- and to act to correct the situation.  http://www.naral.org

In the meantime, consider enrolling your child in the Unitarian Universalist sex education program, Our Whole Lives (OWL) for accurate information, a positive attitude about sexuality, and support for diversity.


Paganism being taught in Public Schools?
Fantasy and Fear Mongering


This press release represents the fear-mongering that is commonplace among the Religious Right.  If ANYONE knows of a public school that is write me.

Homeschoolers, how are YOU teaching your religion?  Please share with other Pagan parents by sending descriptions to the Editor.

Media Syndicate Press Release

http://www.mediasyndicate.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=
1463

Pagan Religions Taught In Public Schools


Posted by: jturtel on Jul 27, 2005 - 12:00 AM

We are supposed to have separation of church and state in our public schools. Christianity is not allowed in our classrooms. Yet school authorities are promoting pagan rituals and religions in public-school classrooms across the country under the guise of multiculturalism classes.

In classrooms throughout the country, Judeo-Christian beliefs are often cast aside or ridiculed. Multiculturalism studies, environmental propaganda, and Save-the-Earth classes now indoctrinate children with New-Age religious beliefs, often without parents' knowledge. Public schools sometimes try to sneak offensive pagan or new-age religions into their curriculum without parents' knowledge under the guise of multiculturalism studies.

In January, 2003, a group of parents sued a Sacramento Unified School District because certain teachers at their local elementary school were aggressively, and secretly, teaching anthroposophy, a religion that combines traditional Western religion with astrology and New Age religion. Pacific Justice Institute lawyers representing the parents indicated that many other public schools in California are now adding New Age and Eastern religions, including Islam, to their curricula.

Below is only a small sample of the flood of "spiritual" sessions taking place in classrooms throughout the country (examples are from Berit Kjos's book, "Brave New Schools"):

1. Altered states of consciousness: Teaching students to alter their consciousness through centering exercises, guided imagery, and visualizations has become standard practice in self-esteem, multicultural, and arts programs. They often encourage contact with spirit guides.

2. Dreams and visions: After studying a pagan myth, students are often asked to imagine or visualize a dream or vision, then describe it in a journal or lesson assignment.

3. Astrology: Countless teachers across the country require students to document their daily horoscopes. Others help students discover their powers and personalities through Aztec calendars and Chinese.

4. Other forms of divination: Through palmistry, I Ching, tarot cards and horoscopes, students learn to experience other cultures and tap into secret sources of wisdom. Students in Texas were told to create a vision in their minds and "describe in your best soothsayer tones the details of your vision."

5. Spiritism: While pagan myths and crafts show students how to contact ancestral, nature, and other spirits, classroom rituals actually invoke their presence. California third-graders had to alter their consciousness through guided imagery, invoke or "see" their personal animal spirits, write about their experience . . . and create their own magical medicine shields to represent their spirit helper.

6. Magic, spells, and sorcery: Many parents consider magic and spell-casting too bizarre and alien to pose a threat, yet gullible students from coast to coast are learning the ancient formulas and occult techniques.

Parents, is this what you want your children taught in public schools, the same public schools that are now forbidden from teaching kids the Ten Commandments?

Joel Turtel is an education policy analyst, and author of "Public Schools, Public Menace: How Public Schools Lie To Parents and Betray Our Children."

Contact Information: Website: http://www.mykidsdeservebetter.com
Email: lbooksusa@aol.com, Phone: 718-447-7348.

Wicca article by Middle School Student sparks outcry/
comments from American Family Assn. of Michigan


Friday, March 11, 2005

THE SAGINAW NEWS

MIDLAND -- Central Middle School administrators are promising more oversight of a student publication in the face of hubbub over an article about Wicca.

The article about the ancient religion was in a recent 10-page issue of the Cavalier Chronicle newsletter, which goes to about 600 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders at the school.

Several community members obtained the document, which isn't sent outside the school, and objected to the article, school officials said.

Wicca is a Celtic pagan religion that includes the practice of witchcraft, using spells for protection and love with the pledge of causing no harm.

Press Release from the Becket Fund
After 73 days, Native American student allowed to go back to class

May 15, 2003

Aroniakeha Elijah, a 17 year-old junior at Salmon River High School near Plattsburgh, New York, was finally allowed to return to regular classes today. A decision by school officials to allow his return ended a 73 day period in which they confined him to a windowless room for wearing a red headband which signified a rite of passage within his traditional Iroquois religion. The action was taken after Becket Fund attorney Derek Gaubatz and New York attorney Robert Greene met with school officials regarding Aroniakeha's constitutional rights to freely practice his religion.

Earlier this year, when Elijah wore his head-cloth to school, officials regarded it as a violation of their "no bandana" rule, and he was ordered to remove it. When he refused, on grounds that he considered wearing it his religious duty, the school segregated him from other students in a room known as "the box." For more than three months, he received no instruction, homework, or any education. An accomplished athlete and member of the cross country and lacrosse teams, Elijah was suspended for the entire season, jeopardizing any future possibility of college athletic scholarships.

On May 14, 2003, Becket Fund attorney Derek Gaubatz and New York attorney Robert Greene, with whom The Becket Fund had worked previously in Pine Hill Zendo Inc. v. Town of Bedford Zoning Board of Appeals , met with the school board president, the superintendent, the school principal and their attorney. A settlement was quickly worked out in which school officials agreed to allow Elijah to return to his regular classes, receive tutoring to help him make up the three months' work, and wear his red head cloth.

Gaubatz said, "It's a sad day in America when a school sends one of its students into solitary confinement for three and a half months simply for asserting his constitutional rights. But we welcome the school district's decision, in response to our request, to take the first step toward correcting this injustice by allowing Aroniakeha to return to class while wearing his religious headband." Elijah was supported throughout his ordeal by his family, including his grandfather, Jake Swamp, an Iroquois chief.

http://www.becketfund.org/index.php/article/89.html

The recent Supreme Court ruling on RLUIPA  may prevent such measures from being taken if the future.

Students Try to Uncover Diversity
Diversity Day 2005 Comes to Stonington High School


By Heather Peurano
Times Staff Writer  -- Used with permission.

Stonington -- Stonington High School students looked for diversity among a seemingly homogeneous population this month, themselves.

The event, "Diversity Day 2005 Uncovering Diversity," sponsored by the Multiculturalism and Diversity class, is a one-semester elective focusing on topics such as racism, disabilities awareness and hate crimes.

The diversity fair was a culmination of several weeks of work for the students, who worked in groups to research and create presentations on various diversity topics.

Senior Mallory Harrold, 18, of Pawcatuck, and junior Alex Brast, 17, of Stonington, created a diversity scavenger hunt to get the students started on the quest to find diversity within their ranks. The pair also conducted a survey of students' perception of the school's diversity and planned to conduct the same survey at Fitch High School and New London High School and then collate and compare the results of the three schools.

Some students invited guest speakers to help man their booths and answer questions. Guest presenters included representatives of the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, Food Not Bombs and Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation.

One of the most popular booths appeared to be "diSPELLing Myths" which focused on world religions. Senior* Rachel Warner, 18, of Mystic manned the table, sharing her experiences with Wicca, a form of witchcraft. She said she was pleasantly surprised with the response she'd received from the students.
Overall it's been a lot better than I thought it would be," Warner said, adding that questions ranged from "What is it?" to "Is it evil?" and "What do you do during a ritual?"

In addition to sharing information, Warner brought in items found on a Wiccan altar.

"Most of them have been good," she said of the responses. "I've gotten a few people who've given me a weird look and won't come near it."

One of her partners in the project, senior Zachary Binkowski, 17, of Pawcatuck, manned the center of the table, sitting behind a statue of Buddha. Students were invited to touch the Buddha's stomach for luck, which prompted requests for candy and opened the door for questions on the religion.

Binkowski had planned on hosting a presentation on yoga and meditation but joined with Warner after his guest speaker cancelled.

The confirmed catholic said he was not trying to convert anyone to another religion and did not think students feared he was. Rather, he said, the project was about learning about different cultures and comparing them to our own.

"The theme of this is uncovering diversity, looking beyond the obvious," he said, adding that sometimes one can also find similarities when looking beyond obvious differences.

"I've learned that people that follow these other religions are not that different from ourselves," he said.

Senior Brett Pierson, 17, and junior Lauren Lensis, 17, both of Pawcatuck, focused on hate crimes, inviting students to watch part excerpts of the movie "The Laramie Project," which was playing on a television at their station. The movie focuses on the murder of 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, who was killed in Laramie, Wyo. in 1998.

The students passed out copies of a brochure they had created defining hate crimes and hate crime laws.

The two said they were not overly concerned with overt violence towards homosexuals at the school and were focusing on awareness of other forms of prejudice and abuse.

"The vocabulary they use, slang, a lot of the stuff is very prejudiced," Pierson said.

Lensis clarified by saying often students would say "that's gay" when what they really mean is "that's stupid," something that's not very complimentary to homosexuals.

Pierson said he thought the school's homosexual students were treated differently by some of their classmates.

"Mostly guys try to stay away from them, make fun of them," he said.

This is Richard Walter's first year teaching the class. The history teacher said the hardest part was deciding what topics to cover during the half-year course.

Walter said if he taught the class again he would consider inviting other classes to participate in the Diversity Fair to make it larger, potentially filling the entire gym with presenters.

He said he also would like to increase the scope of the course.

"It'd be nice to see it somehow integrated into all of the curriculum," he said.
 
Almost all of the school's students attended the fair, with classes visiting in 40-minute blocks. Walter said a few teachers had tests that could not be rescheduled, so their students did not attend.
While
most of the students did visit the booths, a few did stand in the center of the gymnasium talking about social activities and sports.

While disappointed at their lack of interest, Walter said he didn't want to force the students to learn about diversity.

"You given them the opportunity and then they have a choice to make," he said.

Other topics covered included hazing, origami, resisting war, bullying and "Different Fabrics, Different People," focusing on cultural differences in attire. In addition to the hate crimes booth, there were two presentations focusing on aspects of sexual orientation. There were also two presentations about disabilities awareness, one focusing on deafness, the other on blindness.

Freshman Heather Turner, 15, of Stonington, toured the booths, stopping to learn more about Seeing Eye dogs.

"It's really neat," she said of the fair, adding that she was thinking of taking the class.
Her favorite, she said, was Warner's presentation on Wicca, which she said she knew a little about before the fair.

"I think it's really great that we're doing something like this," she said.

originally published in the Stonington Times on June 3, 2005.  http://stoningtontimes.shorepublishing.com/

 


[Note: Rachel Warner (age 18) did this towards the end of her senior year, when her classmates were more mature and if there was trouble, it would soon end.

Pagan Institute does NOT advise high school students to come out of the broom closet at school without seriously thinking over the possible consequences. We recommend discussing it with parents, and considering the possible impact on other siblings in the school.  The experience of Pagan youth coming out of the broom closet in high school has been very mixed.  Problems ARE being tracked; please send first-hand reports.]

Still, this event was wonderful news and the students and their teachers and administrators, as well as the newspaper are to be commended.]


A guest column by Elizabeth Markley
Posted on Wed, Jun. 08, 2005


Leave my child out of your evangelism

Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing. The fact that we are free to say what we wish without facing criminal charges shows true democracy in action. But at what point does freedom of speech become harassment?

There are individuals who go door-to-door in a desperate attempt to convert others to their faith. Those of us who are not interested in this face-to-face equivalent of spam either refuse to answer the door or blindly take the pamphlet that is handed to us, knowing that we will be throwing it in the trash.

I am a Pagan, so their conversion attempts are annoying, to say the least. Luckily for me, because of my honesty and courtesy toward them, there is usually no problem.

Then they decided to prey upon my child. Now I realize that all they were doing was simply sharing their faith with my child, but the fact is that she is a minor, and children do not realize that they can tell such individuals to leave them alone.  So out of social fear, my daughter complied with every request they made.  She was next door at her friend's house when they not only pressured her to join in on a prayer, but also told her to fill out a form that they handed to her.

That is when I stepped outside to see why my daughter had not come home yet.  When I saw that she was filling out some form I told her to stop writing and asked her what she was filling out.

She said that she did not know, but that this man (pointing to him) told her to fill it out. That is when I asked the man what he had given to my child.

He insisted that it was simply a statement of faith and nothing to worry about. I informed him that since I am her mother, he had no right to ask my child to provide personal information. He said that she could just put down her name, if that's all she wanted to do. Didn't I make it clear that without my consent he could not ask her to fill out anything?

While I support their freedom of speech and their right to practice their religion, how do those rights extend to a right to pry private information out of a minor?

I can't help but wonder how the neighborhood would react if I were a Satanist and went around telling children about the joys of worshipping Satan. Surely I would be put in jail. So tell me, why is it that they can get away with it day after day? When are these people going to realize that what they believe does not void all laws that pertain to minors?

Elizabeth Markley is a resident of Fort Wayne.
Used with permission.
Originally published at

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/11844508.htm

accessed 6/9/05

By Liam Anderson, Pagan Institute Report Youth News Reporter
 
When her high school banned her from singing "Awesome God" at her elementary school, eight-year-old Olivia Turton and her mother sued the school, citing that their first-amendment-rights had been infringed upon by the school's censorship.
 
The girl's mother, Maryann Turton, protested the school's May 10th decision at a school board meeting that same evening, but was told three days later by superintendent Joyce Brennan that the song was inappropriate for the school-funded talent show due to it's religious lyrics, particularly the phrase, "Our God is an awesome God/ He reigns from heaven above/ with wisdom, pow'r and love." Ms. Turton, hardly put off by the school's decision, hired lawyer Demetrios K. Stratis, and, with the support of Christian legal group, the Alliance Defense Fund, filed a lawsuit against the school.
 
The decision to hear the case was made by U.S. District Judge, Stanley Chesler, who agreed to preside over the lawsuit, only hours before Turton was scheduled to sing.
 
However, the girl and her family may be fighting a losing battle.  In a number of cases, including Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District and Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, the Supreme Court has ruled that schools have a right to censor any school-funded production.
 

[One Christian complained that "the school allowed a recitation from Macbeth, with witches and killing
animals,"
as if that were an equivalent form of Pagan worship! ed, cl]

  Special Extended Report:

  Back to School with the Religious Right: Religion and Public Schools

   By People for the American Way,
   Used with permission of People for the American Way.

      
Back to School with the Radical Right
      
School Prayer
      
Creationism
      
Textbook Controversies
      
Mandated "In God We Trust" Signs in Public Schools
      
Bible Studies in Public Schools
      
Abstinence Only Sexual Education
      
Anti-Gay Propaganda; Attacks on Gay Student Protections

    
Censorship

     
[Color emphasis mine. cl, ed.]
 

The Continuing Assault on Public Education
Religious Right political groups are more engaged than ever in an assault on public education in America. People For the American Way Foundation has long documented the tactics, strategies and targets in a battle that is tearing communities apart across the land. This battle plays out both locally and nationally and the Religious Right has a multifaceted strategy.

On the one hand, Religious Right leaders urge Christians to abandon public schools, but on the other hand, they seek to control public school curricula and use public schools to proselytize. By stirring up controversy about the public schools, the Right hopes to poison Americans on the very notion of public education and, at the same time, change the curricula in public schools to reflect its narrow agenda.

School vouchers are a key part of this strategy - getting federal funding for Christian schools. In recent years, most public attention has focused on the issue of school vouchers. Indeed,
vouchers are the Right's most heavily promoted education issue, and the effort feeds in large measure on the rest of the Religious Right's other anti-education work. People For the American Way Foundation has documented the voucher movement for many years. But to examine this effort by the Religious Right only in the context of any single education issue - be it the push for vouchers or school censorship - is to miss the larger campaign to discredit the very notion of public education.

Years ago Jerry Falwell said, "I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, there won't be any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them." This spirit still persists in Religious Right leaders like Focus on the Family's James Dobson, who has supported a growing movement to convince Christian parents to pull their children out of public schools altogether. In recent years, two other Religious Right leaders, Robert Simonds of Citizens for Excellence in Education and D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Ministries, have promoted initiatives to encourage all Christian parents to withdraw their students (and their support) from public schools nationwide. Politicians like Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) - who proudly touts that he has "been calling for an end to the government monopoly school system" for over 20 years - and radio personalities like Dr. Laura Schlessinger have also played high-profile roles in this movement. In her April 9, 2002 broadcast, Dr. Laura said, "I stand with Dr. James Dobson. Take your kids out of public schools."

In the months following the September 11 terrorist attacks, most Americans found solace in their family and community. From the outset, many Religious Right groups were ready to offer their narrow prescriptions for the nation, but mandating sectarian religion and censoring classroom materials is not new and it's certainly no remedy. The Religious Right is very committed to injecting sectarian religion into the classroom via creationism and school-sponsored religious activity, and to attacking curricula and materials, such as comprehensive sex and science education, as well as certain classroom and library books. This report provides a snapshot of current Religious Right activity in public schools.
 

"For the past 30, 35 years, we as a nation have abandoned God. And in one case, the Supreme Court yesterday says you can't have a picture of Jesus, you can't have the Ten Commandments, you can't pray in schools, you can't read the Bible. And the Supreme Court continuously takes its fingers and sticks them in the eye of Almighty God."
                                                       -- Televangelist Pat Robertson, 700 Club, 5-3-95

The Religious Right axiom that "God has been kicked out of the public schools" is simply not true. Individual students are free to pray and share their faith with others in the same voluntary, non-disruptive manner that they may engage in other speech at school. The Supreme Court has consistently held that the government may not sponsor or endorse religious exercises or activities. Similarly, "captive audience" prayer by students or teachers is not permitted during classes or over school intercoms where students have no choice but to attend. But the courts have clearly protected the rights of students to engage in religious speech voluntarily, subject to the same sort of time, place and manner restrictions commonly applied to all other forms of student expression. Nevertheless, the Religious Right has been trying to return organized religious observances to schools since the Supreme Court banned organized, school-sponsored prayer almost 40 years ago.

With the legal and organizing assistance of prominent Religious Right legal groups, such as Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) and the American Family Association (AFA), to name just two, schools must increasingly contend with lawsuits brought by those asserting that schools are infringing on their religious rights. In fact, more than 100 firms specializing in cases dealing with religion now exist nationwide.

Ever-prepared for opportunities to undermine the separation of church and state, Religious Right organizations and their political allies used the period of mourning and reflectio
n that followed the September 11 terrorist attacks to promote their long-held agenda. Public schools across the country were bombarded with requests for school prayer, Bible curricula and the posting of the Ten Commandments or the national motto, "In God We Trust." Many say they saw an opportunity to push for their cause in the changed political climate. "Surely, Sept. 11 helps our case," said Rep. Randal Mangham, a George state legislator who suggested that the Georgia General Assembly revisit its law mandating a moment of silence in schools to explicitly include prayer. Mangham said he'd been considering his legislation for a while. Religious Right and political groups also sensed a change. Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, applauded the changed mood. "There's more religious expression going on in our public schools than at any time in history. This is going to change the tone of public schools in America."


 
Creationism
The Supreme Court last made a major ruling on teaching creationism in public school in 1987. The landmark case Edwards v. Aguillard struck down a 1981 Louisiana law requiring that any public school teaching evolution must grant equal time to "creation science" on the grounds that the latter advanced a religious doctrine. The Court also stated that teaching "a variety of scientific theories" about human origins might be valid "with the clear secular intent of enhancing the effectiveness of science instruction." Most creationist efforts since 1987 have attempted to exploit this language.

This new breed of creationist activism now dominates the movement, and has adopted the moniker "intelligent design" (ID). The main methods of injecting the ID/creationist agenda into public school curricula are via textbook disclaimers and the language of state science standards. The purpose of these efforts is to delegitimize evolution and minimize its profile in science education. There is also a growing movement to insert intelligent design into science curricula via books and lectures. Intelligent design groups do not concentrate their energy on producing scientific research, but on providing tactical and legal advice on introducing the topic into science classes via clubs, speakers and supplementary texts.

But some old-line creationists, represented by groups such as Answers in Genesis and the Institute for Creation Research, refuse to cloak their language by simply advocating "intelligent design." Religious Right groups like Focus on the Family (FOF) are also playing a central role, working directly and through state affiliates to challenge the teaching of evolution. In October 2001, Focus on the Family urged California students to write to the U.S. Justice Department and describe "how you and your faith were offended by evolution being taught as fact." If there was any doubt of FOF's intention, the piece is titled, "Californians Have Chance to Fight Evolution in Schools."

 
State Science Standards
 
In the 2001-02 school year, the battleground over science instruction shifted to Ohio from Kansas, which had drawn national attention when its state school board eliminated evolution from the state's science standards in 1999. The Kansas board eventually reversed it decision, but evolution opponents saw an opportunity in Ohio to take their Kansas success one step further. A state law signed in 2001 requires the state school board to adopt academic content standards in six areas, including science. A group called Science Excellence for All Ohioans (SEAO) is leading the effort to insert intelligent design creationism into the standards. SEAO is a project of the American Family Association of Ohio and is also affiliated with the Intelligent Design Network.

As in Kansas, the proceedings have turned into a showcase for the "intelligent design" movement. Speakers and lawyers from ID think tanks like the Discovery Institute and the Intelligent Design Network have appeared before state meetings and made the issue a statewide media-driven controversy. National and state groups are working together on the issue. The local Religious Right group Citizens for Community Values worked with the Discovery Institute and Focus on the Family to broadcast the anti-evolution video "Icons of Evolution" on a number of Ohio television stations. Other state-level Religious Right groups like the Ohio Roundtable and the Eagle Forum of Ohio are getting into the act, hosting intelligent design speakers and supporting SEAO's push to change the science standards.

After an extended period of public input and revision, the state board of education is scheduled to consider draft standards during Fall 2002 and, according to Ohio law, must adopt science standards in December 2002. The political fight is likely to intensify as the final vote approaches.

Hawaii and Nebraska also saw similar attacks involving science standards over the 2001-02 school year. In both cases, creationists failed to either add creationism or de-emphasize evolution in state policy, but it's clear that such efforts are the most active front in the battle for objective science education free of religious influence.
 
Inserting Disclaimers in Textbooks
 
In April 2002, the Cobb County, Georgia Board of Education decided to draft a disclaimer regarding the teaching of evolution to be inserted in science textbooks in response to a petition effort that gained support via local Bible study classes. Modeled on a successful effort in Alabama, anti-evolution forces won a disclaimer to be inserted in biology textbooks in Fall 2002 reading: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered."

One parent who requested board action was not satisfied with the decision, saying she wanted an elective science course exploring the controversy and wanted the insert to more clearly define alternative explanations. Another parent was more blunt, saying, "We believe the Bible is correct in that God created man. I don't expect the public school system to teach only creationism, but I think it should be given its fair share." In August 2002, the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia filed a federal lawsuit against the district asking for the disclaimer's removal.

Since then, the school board voted unanimously to consider changing district policy relating to science and evolution education. The proposed policy states, in part, that "discussion of disputed views of academic subjects is a necessary element of providing a balanced education, including the study of the origin of the species." The board chair said it was not clear if the proposed language would allow creationism to be discussed. The Cobb County board will spend 30 days reviewing the proposed policy change and vote on the matter at the end of September.
 
Other Creationist Attacks on Science Education
 
In June 2002, the Annville-Cleona, Pennsylvania School Board rejected a series of reading texts because of objections that it contained the theory of evolution in some stories and "radical environmentalism" in others. School board member Kathy Horst said she would like to see the Pennsylvania School Board Association consider creationism as an issue for its legislative platform. "I want to see that the theory of intelligent design be taught in our classrooms, as well as evolution" said Horst."

The Greensburg Salem, Pennsylvania school district is considering a proposal to teach "creation science" alongside evolution in its high school science classes. A recent graduate who is currently a student at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University requested the change. The school board had considered adding "creation science" to an advanced biology curriculum in 1999, but rejected the proposal on a 5-4 vote. The science department is conducting an initial review of the proposal, but a final decision will be made by the school board.

In Joes, Colorado the Liberty J-4 School District voted 5-0 to reverse an earlier unanimous decision to include creationism in science classes. In Columbus, IN the district is yet to decide how to act on a request to add a "creation science" elective class.
 
Creationist Activity in Federal and State Legislatures
 
In 2001, the ID creationist leader Phillip Johnson helped craft language for an anti-evolution resolution to be inserted in a federal education reform bill in an attempt to give local anti-evolution activists another tool. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) sponsored the language in a non-binding "sense of the Senate" resolution. The resolution declared that, "where biological evolution is taught, the curriculum should help students to understand why this subject generates so much continuing controversy, and should prepare the students to be informed participants in public discussions regarding the subject." Though Sen. Santorum claimed that the amendment did not "not try to dictate curriculum to anybody," more than 80 science groups decried the anti-evolution agenda behind the resolution. The Santorum language was removed from the final version of the education bill, and a compromise version with less strident anti-evolution language was instead included in the conference report that accompanied the bill.

Some have sought to give the Santorum language the force of law despite the fact that the language was part of a non-binding resolution and was relegated to a report that was not officially part of the final legislation. Reps. John A. Boehner and Steve Chabot, both Ohio Republicans, invoked the Santorum language in a letter to the Ohio school board suggesting that references to ID should be included in the state's science standards. In Georgia, the Santorum language was the basis for an anti-evolution bill that eventually died in committee. Anti-evolution bills were also introduced, but ultimately failed to progress, in state legislatures in Ohio, Washington and Mississippi.

Textbook Controversies
The Right has long looked to public school textbooks as a way of promoting its political agenda. Current right-wing strategies to influence textbook development have their origins in the 1960s, when Texas-based activists Mel and Norma Gabler first led a nationwide effort to purge public school texts of what they viewed as the "mental child abuse" of liberal ideas. The Gablers were among the first to recognize just how influential textbooks can be. As they put it, "Textbooks mold nations because they determine how a nation votes, what it becomes, and where it goes."

The Right is particularly vigilant regarding what it sees as liberal bias, such as the promotion of evolution over creationism, the environment over capitalism, or anti-Christian ideology in textbooks. In recent months, the Religious Right has tried to take advantage of anxiety after the September 11 terrorist attacks to promote Christianity in public schools. In 2002, two right-wing groups, California's Pacific Justice Institute and the Michigan-based Thomas More Center for Law and Justice, have taken legal action against California school districts for using a textbook they view as "pro-Islamic, anti-Christian propaganda." According to a press release from the Pacific Justice Institute, Houghton Mifflin's Across the Centuries "puts the history of the Islamic faith in a purely positive light, while depicting Christians in a negative light." For its part, Houghton Mifflin denies pro-Muslim bias in its books: "[T]hese textbooks praise many cultures for their contributions to civilization. In turn, the textbooks also include the negative aspects of each culture, including instances of Muslim religious intolerance, military aggression and murder."
Case Study: Texas Textbooks
 
In no other place is the Right's influence on textbooks so profound as it is in Texas. The Lone Star State is the country's second largest purchaser of public school textbooks. As a result, publishers often go out of their way to gain acceptance for their books in Texas. Publisher efforts to cater to conservative tastes in Texas have a national impact - a fact not lost on the state's right wing. As the field director of ultraconservative Texas Citizens for a Sound Economy puts it, "The bottom line is that Texas and California are the biggest buyers of textbooks in the country, and what we adopt is what the rest of the country gets."

Public school textbooks in Texas must be approved by the elected State Board of Education, which holds public hearings annually to review texts before they are purchased by the state. Until recently, this body, which has a majority of Religious Right allies, had considerable latitude in rejecting texts that it deemed inappropriate. This led to widespread abuses. In one instance, a health text drew criticism from the Board because it contained line drawings of a female breast used to demonstrate self-exams. Meanwhile, some Board members complained that textbooks described slavery in an overly negative way. The rules for textbook adoption changed in 1995 when the Texas Senate, fearing that the right wing was using the process to promote ideology, limited the Board's rejection authority to texts that contained factual errors.

However, the Right has found ways around the new adoption rules. In recent years, right-wing board members and groups have shown a remarkable ability to expand the definition of the term "factual" to justify rejection of texts they find unpalatable. According to the right-wing Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), "Part of it is your definition of fact. If by facts we want to say the only thing that counts is two plus two equals four, then we did more than [check facts]. But a factual check means more than that." Oftentimes, it means screening texts for perceived liberal bias.


Right-wing groups currently conduct two separate outside reviews of textbooks prior to the Board's annual public hearings - one from the Texas Public Policy Foundation and a second by a coalition called the Working Partnership for Textbook Reviews. The latter group is composed of such ultraconservative mainstays as Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum, the Gabler Group, Citizens for a Sound Economy, and Concerned Women for America. These organizations bring considerable resources to bear in their attempts to influence the process. For example, TPPF, which has a team of 16 reviewers, plans to spend at least $100,000 in 2002 to examine textbooks. Thus far, these investments have paid off.

In 2001, the Board reviewed public school science textbooks. Pressed by right-wing groups, it initially rejected two environmental science texts, Creating a Sustainable Future and How the World Works and Your Place in It. TPPF argued that these volumes were "full of vitriol against Western civilization." One witness testifying before the Board urged members to reject these titles because they made "discriminatory comments about Christianity and property ownership.. The publishers believe that, if we were pagan serfs of the king working with our hands and told when to procreate, that would be utopia." At the urging of TPPF, the publisher of How the World Works made revisions to the text so as to portray industry in a kinder light. The Board approved the revised text.


Meanwhile, an environmental textbook financed in part by mining companies won Board approval. It is not entirely surprising that this title received a warm reception from the Board, given the connections of some of its members. Grace Shore, the Board's chairwoman, is co-owner of a Texas-based energy services company. As Shore put it, "The oil and gas industry should be consulted. We always get a raw deal."

The Board is currently examining social studies texts, a process scheduled for completion by November 2002. In July, the Board rejected a textbook entitled Out of Many: A History of the American People. Again, it appears as though the Board based its decision on ideological - rather than factual - grounds. Chairwoman Shore expressed her distaste for the book in this way: "It said that there were approximately 50,000 prostitutes west of the Mississippi in this timeframe. I don't know where they got their information, but the way it was written it made it sound like there were none east of the Mississippi, they were all west of the Mississippi. And then I thought it was just demeaning of women in the West.it made it sound like they were all prostitutes."


In recent years,
some publishers have begun to exercise self-censorship, altering material that might be deemed offensive by a few very active right-wing groups in Texas. This year,
the cover photo of a proposed high school economics textbook features several male sculptures from the front of the New York Stock Exchange building. The publisher drew in loincloths to cover up the normally naked statues, rather than risk a potential approval challenge.
 
School Prayer
 
Texas was just one of the states where the Religious Right used the events of September 11 to promote its agenda of re-establishing organized, state-sponsored prayer in public schools. Texas Gov. Rick Perry endorsed organized school prayer saying that he saw no problem with ignoring the U.S. Supreme Court ban organized school prayer "at this very crisis moment in our history." Perry was defending school officials' decision to invite a Protestant minister to open a middle school assembly with a Christian prayer in October 2001. Perry also said he was planning on making school prayer a campaign issue in his next election. Jerry Falwell praised Perry in a widely distributed email saying it was good politics to press for school prayer after the terrorist attacks. "Prior to the Sept. 11 attacks on our nation, this might have been an unwise campaign approach. But not now," Falwell said.

Similar incidents occurred in 2001 in states across the country - from South Carolina, where state legislators wanted to turn the "moment of silence" into a moment of prayer, to Illinois, where the state House unanimously passed a bill to allow students to initiate group prayer in public schools, to West Covina, California where the school board voted to become the first district in Los Angeles County to begin the day with a moment of silence.
 
 
In God We Trust
 
Since September 11, interest in posting the national motto "In God We Trust" in public schools has grown. There is a vast difference between the appearance of this message on coins and dollar bills, on the one hand, and in public schools, on the other. When these words are directed at captive audiences of young school children by their schools, they send an impermissible message of government endorsement of religion. The Supreme Court has long distinguished between speech in general public settings and religious speech directed at public school students because students "are impressionable and their attendance is involuntary."

The American Family Association began its campaign to place posters displaying "In God We Trust" in public schools almost two years ago. Mississippi Governor Ronnie Musgrove signed legislation requiring the motto in every public school classroom, auditorium and cafeteria throughout the state early in 2001. AFA then turned its attention to the rest of the country. AFA president Don Wildmon reports that since September, requests for the poster have gone up and the AFA Center for Law & Policy has offered to defend any school that is challenged for putting up the poster at no cost. AFA says nearly a quarter million posters are being displayed.

Michigan, Utah, New Jersey, Florida, Arizona, Oklahoma, Virginia and Louisiana are all states that have introduced or already passed legislation allowing or requiring schools to post "In God We Trust" plaques or posters. Randy Sharp, American Family Association's director of special projects, described the motto as a historical rather than a religious document. At the same time, Sharp said, his group has specifically pushed for "In God We Trust" posters in schools because "we think it's important for young people to recognize the religious heritage of our nation."

In Virginia, every school will be required to hang a poster with the words "In God We Trust, the National Motto, enacted by Congress in 1956," in accordance with a law signed by Gov. Mark R. Warner in May 2002. In several districts, schools will hang posters provided by the Family Policy Network, a state affiliate of AFA, which has been pushing the Virginia General Assembly to pass the law for the last two years.

Not all Virginians are happy with the new law. Mainstream Loudoun, a Loudoun County group active in First Amendment issues, has offered to donate posters with the motto "E pluribus unum" to all county schools. They say that the original motto, meaning "out of many, one," that was chosen by the founding fathers, is more inclusive and respectful of diversity.

 
 
Bible Studies
 
It is perfectly acceptable to teach about the Bible in public schools, so long as the instruction is presented objectively, as part of secular education, and not as history or from a particular sectarian perspective. However, across the country, school districts are being asked to adopt a Bible curriculum produced by a private group called the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools (NCBCPS). The council says the aim is to foster an understanding of literature and history, but Elizabeth Ridenour, president of the group, has described her efforts as an attempt to "expose the kids to the biblical Christian worldview.." The NCBCPS claims that 101,000 students have taken the class in 195 school districts across the country, although it consistently refuses to provide details.

In Louisiana, NCBCPS' curriculum has been approved in eight parishes (counties) following the state's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education's decision to leave the choice to local school boards. [People For the American Way Foundation sent a letter urging the state board to reject the course.]

The Louisiana Family Forum, an affiliate of Focus on the Family, has been actively involved in lobbying the state board and urging members to push local school boards to institute the program. Ridenour praised the group saying, "The National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools appreciates the tremendous amount of time and work that Louisiana Family Forum has contributed toward
returning Bible curriculum to the public schools of Louisiana. [They] have been invaluable in the success of numerous parishes implementing the elective Bible course and also in disseminating information to people statewide."

Florida has seen a number of incidents regarding the NCBCPS curriculum. The
Miami-Dade County school board has recently been asked by the United Teachers of Dade's Christians for Morality caucus to adopt a new Bible course using the NCBCPS curriculum, and is preparing to conduct a "feasibility study" as to teaching a secondary school Bible course. [PFAWF has explained to the Miami school board why it would be improper for the board to offer a course based on the NCBCPS curriculum.] They are doing so despite the example of Lee County Florida, where an earlier edition of the NCBCPS "New Testament" curriculum was successfully challenged in court. The case cost the school system staff time and money including $95,000 in the plaintiffs' legal fees. [PFAWF was co-counsel to the plaintiffs in Lee County.]

In Rhea County, Tennessee, the same county where the Scopes trial was held, Judge Allan Edgar decided in February 2002 that the school district's Bible classes violated the First Amendment. The classes, held in three elementary schools, were taught by students from Bryan College, a Christian college in Dayton named for William Jennings Bryan. Judge Allen's ruling said county officials, "acted with both purpose and effect to endorse and advance religion in the public schools." At a school board meeting following the ruling, the audience of about 300 applauded as the board voted unanimously to appeal the decision. Board member Bruce Majors said, "we want to teach our children that the Bible is the truth. Our only course is an appeal."
 
Sexuality Education
The Right has been bashing sexuality education programs for years. In 1981 Phyllis Schlafly wrote that the "major goal of nearly all sex education curricula being taught in the schools is to teach teenagers (and sometimes children) how to enjoy fornication without having a baby and without feeling guilty." Religious Right groups have been remarkably successful at promoting the myth that comprehensive sexuality education programs do not discuss the merits of abstinence, but simply give information on how to have sex. That myth has fueled numerous challenges to such curricula in communities across the country.

Groups like Schlafly's Eagle Forum, Focus on the Family and the Christian Coalition have developed two strategies in fighting sex education in public schools - pushing to have it removed from the classroom altogether and taking control over what is taught. The first strategy had little success, since large majorities of people want schools to provide comprehensive sexuality education. Since the mid-90s, the Religious Right has made serious inroads with the latter strategy. Through skillful lobbying and influence, the Right has radically changed funding for sex education, shifting congressional and state subsidies to programs that do not provide vital health information.

Sex education curricula generally follow two basic models. Abstinence-only education instructs students to "just say no" to sex until marriage and severely limits - or omits entirely - information about birth control, abortion, sexually transmitted diseases (STD), and HIV/AIDS. Comprehensive sex education, sometimes known as "abstinence-plus," emphasizes abstinence in addition to providing medical and scientific information about contraception, abortion and STD, and often discusses sexual orientation.

Early Religious Right programs - then known as "chastity education" - were challenged due to their patently religious instruction, for example, the suggestion that students "take Christ on a date as a chaperone." Direct religious instructions were ordered removed, but this problem still plagues abstinence-only education programs that are supported by congressional funding and instituted by the states. In 1996, opponents of comprehensive sex education attached a provision to fund abstinence-only programs to popular welfare-reform legislation. Since then, federal funding has increased nearly 3,000 percent. As Governor of Texas and as a presidential candidate, George W. Bush championed abstinence-only programs, vowing that his "administration will elevate abstinence education from an afterthought to an urgent goal." President Bush has continued to embrace these programs and has increased their federal funding, winning him the praise of Religious Right leaders like James Dobson. Dobson's Focus on the Family reported in February 2002 that President Bush's budget increase for these programs brought their funding level to nearly that of comprehensive sexuality education.

Not surprisingly, many states with education budget problems have welcomed the increase, which has led to the widespread institutionalization of "abstinence-only" education. With the increased federal funding for abstinence education in recent years, a multi-million dollar industry was born. The abstinence-only programs first pushed by Religious Right groups are now created by businesses and bought by school districts and states using federal tax dollars.

Since the Right succeeded in getting its agenda subsidized by the federal government, the focus has largely shifted from attacking comprehensive sexuality education programs towards promoting abstinence-only curricula. The Abstinence Clearing House, a Religious Right group that "serves agencies on a national, state and local level," recommends that parents have their children opt out of comprehensive sex education and lobby their school board to adopt abstinence-only curricula. What follows is a snapshot of current battles over sexuality education in local communities.
Louisiana
In Spring 2002, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the state of Louisiana for using its annual $1.6 million in federal funds to promote religion through "abstinence-only" curricula. The suit contends that the state has spent money on "Christ-centered" skits, religious youth revivals and biblical instruction on purity. "Passion 4 Purity" was one of the programs Louisiana supported, a program that teaches abstinence through "scriptural concepts" by instructing students that "God desires sexual purity as a way of life." In another case tax dollars were used to support a special kind of field trip - in the name of abstinence - to take children to abortion clinics for prayer vigils.
 
North Carolina
In May 2002, after a public hearing and debate, the Wake County School Health Advisory Council reviewed and adopted recommendations for changes to its "Healthful Living" curriculum that would allow teachers to discuss topics such as contraception. In 1995, North Carolina passed a law that mandated abstinence-only-until-marriage education across the state and Wake County has become one of the few school districts that has challenged the legislated "abstinence-only" curriculum. Throughout this debate in the country, a group of parents have organized to reject the comprehensive sex education program by sponsoring petitions and lobbying local politicians. While this is a step towards changing the curriculum, these recommendations are not official policy. In Fall 2002, there will be more debates in Wake County and possibly a final decision on the curriculum.
 
California
 
California is the only state that has never accepted federal "abstinence-only" program money. The state based this decision on its statewide evaluation of abstinence-only education in the early 1990s, which revealed that the program wasn't effective. However, even a state-level rejection of federal funding for abstinence-only education doesn't mean students are getting comprehensive information.

One example reveals the
demand for comprehensive sex education by parents and students alike. In May 2002, the Modesto Board of Education voted 4-3 to ban a discussion of teen pregnancy, contraception, and abortion in the human relations class, arguing that the "sensitive" subjects should only be addressed "in a health class where abstinence is the key message." The teacher proposed the changes to the class, which focuses on diversity and conflict resolution, at her students' request and received a parental permission slip from 34 out of 35 students. The primary complaint of the students was that their official health class "glosses over" sexuality and that the class is restricted to examining the physical aspects of sex and sexuality while ignoring critical issues such as peer pressure and personal beliefs. One sophomore emphasized the need for the school to address this issue more directly by stating that "there are just too many students out there having sex." Another student asked, "Is preaching abstinence effective? Ask the teens." Students have voted unanimously to address the school board and challenge the district's decision.
 
Virginia
 
Saving America's Foundation Enterprise (SAFE) has launched what the group calls a "campaign of truth" whose goal is to require schools to teach students who are questioning their sexuality or feel they are gay or lesbian that they can make themselves straight, a highly controversial idea rejected by the American Psychiatric Association and American Medical Association. In February 2002, the Virginia Senate Education & Health Committee stalled an anti-gay bill that would have prevented any discussions of homosexuality except as "crimes against nature." However, the group of parents who have organized to defeat the "pro-homosexual agenda" say they'll be back, stronger, for the 2003 legislative session.
 
Anti-Gay Activity

"From Hollywood, the media, the government, the public schools.right into our churches, we are now seeing the rotten fruit and stench of the sin of homosexuality in our land."
-- Stephen Bennett, Stephen Bennett Ministries

The Religious Right may have become more circumspect in its language when it comes to creationism and textbook censorship, but its anti-gay rhetoric is as strident as ever. Of course, this does not mean that the landscape for gay students remains the same as it was a decade ago. On the contrary, many public schools have made great strides towards becoming safer and more open places for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered youth, largely due to the strength and courage of such students and their friends and supportive family. But along with a stronger gay rights movement come new Religious Right strategies to counter every advance.

Over the years, the Religious Right's anti-gay activity in schools has taken many forms - from challenging gay-themed books to barring all mention of sexual orientation to challenging the very right of lesbians and gays to be teachers. While it may not be as easy to stoke anti-gay bias or to threaten the jobs of gay teachers as it once was, the Right is nothing if not inventive. As with sexuality education and creationism, anti-gay groups have created their own "alternative" to objective and fair treatment of the issue.

Using 'Ex-Gay' spokespeople
 
At the center of these efforts are the so-called "ex-gay ministries." Like the creationists who now embrace "intelligent design," anti-gay groups push "reparative therapy" and cast themselves as brave dissenters from a politically correct establishment. However, the real goal is the same as ever - rolling back civil rights protections for lesbians and gays.

Bennett, a self-proclaimed "ex-gay" quoted above, was just one of the anti-gay speakers at a Capitol Hill briefing hosted by the Culture and Family Institute of Concerned Women for America in July 2002. The speakers demonized gay-affirming policies of the National Education Association, Gay, Lesbian Straight Educators Network (GLSEN) and even the U.S. Department of Education. Karen Holgate from Capitol Resource Institute, a California-based group affiliated with Focus on the Family, said, "Homosexual activists have hijacked our schools," and others blasted tolerance and diversity training as a homosexual "Trojan Horse" that undermines students' traditional beliefs. Other speakers included Linda Harvey from the Ohio-based Mission: America and abstinence proponent Dr. John Diggs, also an advisory board member of the Family Research Council.

Another national campaign to push "reparative therapy" in public schools was conducted by the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH). In an effort to rebuke the affirming message of GLSEN and supportive psychiatric groups, NARTH mailed its "Homosexual Advocacy Groups & Your School" brochure to over 15,000 school districts. Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, president of NARTH, claimed that the brochure "seeks to correct the misinformation that is being promoted by these homosexual advocacy groups that have an incredible influence on the public education system."
 
Fighting anti-discrimination measures
 
As school officials, parents and students have acted to provide safe and affirming atmospheres for gay youth in our public schools, Religious Right groups have continued to challenge progress at every opportunity. The California-based Pacific Justice Institute, for example, has filed numerous lawsuits against school districts in that state over gay-friendly policies.

The Bay County, Florida, school board unanimously "denounced homosexuality" despite the fact that no specific issue was before the board. One board member called homosexuality "a sin" and another said "We are morally, ethically and Christian based. We stand tall, we stand firm and we will not support any homosexual [issues]." According to news reports, the board action was the result of parents motivated by publicity about National Education Association guidelines on gay and lesbian issues. The local spokesperson for the teacher's association said, "We're still not sure what [the parents] are after. It seems to me that they think there is some hidden gay agenda that's going to corrupt America. We don't have a position because we don't know what the issue is."

The Maryland state board of education and Fairfax County, Virginia, school district both faced right-wing challenges when they addressed anti-discrimination issues covering sexual orientation. The Culture and Family Institute, TakeBackMaryland.org, and Virginia Family Foundation all claimed that protecting gay youth from harassment and discrimination would undermine traditional values and free speech rights. Peter LaBarbera has resurrected his anti-gay Americans For Truth group (formerly Americans for Truth About Homosexuality) to alert Fairfax County residents to a proposed nondiscrimination policy and hold a "pro-family rally featuring former homosexuals" outside the school board meeting. Neither the Maryland nor Fairfax County programs have been implemented and both await further review.


Focus on the Family, the West Virginia Family Foundation, and Mission: America have lined up to criticize the West Virginia Attorney General's office and participating public schools over a program to reduce bias-motivated harassment and violence. Similar "Dignity for All Students" legislation failed to pass in the Florida and New York general assemblies.
 
Censorship
By all accounts, the Religious Right appears to be focusing its energy on policy issues like school vouchers, anti-gay harassment policies, and the minutiae of textbook approval. But there is still plenty of organized activity to ban books in public school classrooms, and some Religious Right groups remain committed as ever to fanning the flames of censorship.
Harry Potter
 
During the last school year, right-wing groups sought to remove books from the Harry Potter series from schools across the nation by alleging that they are luring students into witchcraft and the occult. On a December 2001 700 Club, host Pat Robertson followed up an interview with an anti-Harry Potter activist by warning that God will forsake nations that tolerate witchcraft. Robertson advised his audience that the Bible said that, "there's certain things that he says that is going to cause the Lord, or the land, to vomit you out. At the head of the list is witchcraft..Now we're welcoming this and teaching our children. And what we're doing is asking for the wrath of God to come on this country..And if there's ever a time we need God's blessing it's now. We don't need to be bringing in heathen, pagan practices to the United States of America."

Several national religious right organizations, like Concerned Women for America, the Traditional Values Coalition, the American Family Association, and Focus on the Family, have warned their supporters against the dangers of the Harry Potter books. And across the country, parents and religious groups worked to try to get Harry Potter books removed from local schools.

In York, Pennsylvania, a parent, along with a local pastor and elementary school teacher, urged the Eastern York School District to ban the Potter series from district schools. The parent, Deb DiEugenio, complained that the Potter books were "against my daughter's constitution, it's evil, it's witchcraft. I'm not paying taxes to teach my child witchcraft." Tony Leanza, who is a pastor at the New Wine Christian Center as well as a local elementary school teacher, attempted to
argue that "Wicca is a religion" and thus the Potter books should be banned because they violate the separation of church and state. The school board eventually voted 7-2 to allow teachers to continue to use the Potter series, provided that students first received a parent's permission.

In July 2002, parents in Cromwell, Connecticut sought to have the Potter books, along with Newbery award-winning book The Witch of Blackbird Pond, removed from a local middle school because they supposedly expose children to spells and witchcraft and provide a negative portrayal of Christianity. Dr. J Michael Bates, a pastor in the Emmanuel Baptist Church, urged taxpayers to protest such books, even if they do not have children in the school system. "The public school needs to know that there are people out there who resent this stuff," Bates said. The objectors plan to petition the school board at an upcoming meeting.

These sorts of attacks on the Potter series were not isolated incidents. Right-wing groups in cities around the country attacked the series. In Florida, Kansas, North Dakota, Ohio, Maine and California, individuals and organizations attempted to keep Harry Potter out of the reach of children.

Perhaps the most intense attack on the Potter books came from the Christ Community Church in Alamogordo, New Mexico, where an actual book burning was held on Dec. 30, 2001.
Hundreds turned out to join Pastor Jack Brock's "holy bonfire," where they smashed CDs, videos and records with a baseball bat and burned magazines and books, including the Harry Potter books, which Brock called "a masterpiece of satanic deception."

Play Cancelled
 
In Fall 2001, a high school production of "Dark of the Moon" was cancelled because of complaints over the play's subject matter and sexual content. The play was mere weeks from it first performance at Knappa High School in Oregon when some parents and community members raised objections to the play's portrayal of Christians, as well as to a scene that implied rape and the cremation of a stillborn baby. The play was produced on Broadway eight years before Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" explored similar themes of intolerance and religion. Mark Acuna, pastor of the Knappa Assembly of God, urged that all future plays have content appropriate for a family audience and "not violate the dignity of race or religion."
 
Book Removed
 
In April 2002, the Horry County Board of Education voted to remove The Drowning of Stephan Jones from the shelves of all eight school libraries in the South Carolina county. The vote came as a result of a complaint by Eugene Carroll Craig, a local barber and born-again Christian.

The book, about a gay man who is harassed and killed by a group of Arkansas teens, initially came to the school board's attention after Craig made 1200 photocopies of passages of the book and passed them out at local businesses on Easter Sunday. Claiming that the book promoted the homosexual agenda, Craig sought to have it removed from district schools. He argued that the book had an "anti-Christian, anti-social agenda" but a twelve-member panel of parents, teachers, librarians and principals voted to keep the book. Not all panel members agreed, with Reverend Ricky Donaldson claiming that he couldn't get past the first chapter of the book because it "offended my Christian beliefs."

Craig appealed this decision to the school board which then determined, by a vote of 7-3, that the book, was "educationally unsuitable and [contained] unacceptable language." It was therefore banned from all Horry County School libraries.
 
Parents Against Bad Books  (PABBIS)
 
An organization was formed in late 2001 in Fairfax, Virginia with the purpose of challenging the use of "bad books" within the Fairfax County school system. Parents Against Bad Books in Schools (PABBIS) has created a web site that now lists hundreds of books the organization considers controversial and offers concerned parents advice and support. The list includes major works by acclaimed authors such as Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Maya Angelou, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, William Styron, Judy Blume, and Robert Cormier, to name a few.

Parents Against Bad Books in Schools was started shortly after a student brought home a copy of Druids, by Morgan Llywelyn. PABBIS sought to remove this book because of what it claimed was "graphic descriptions of sex" and "sex magic." The group also sought the removal of Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire and Ken Follett's The Pillars of the Earth. The Fairfax County School Board removed Druids from middle school shelves and limited access to The Pillars of the Earth to grades 10 through 12. PABBIS has routinely complained about the board and accused board members of "embracing all religions...except for the Christian Faith." Furthermore, PABBIS alleges that "many of these books have anti-Christian themes and are blasphemous of Jesus the Lord."

PABBIS assures parents who have found their child with "a book with vivid descriptions of sex, violence, vulgar language or something else objectionable" and wondered "how dare the school allow this junk," that they "have every right to feel angry and upset" because "[the schools] are corrupting your child." Instead of allowing the school system to force "their values on your child everyday," PABBIS urges parents to challenge the use of the book and offers advice on how to change the system. PABBIS also recommends that parents "monitor what your child reads like a paranoid hawk" or switch their children to a private school.
 
 
Conclusion
This report only provides a glimpse of the many Religious Right attempts to censor curricula or insert sectarian religion into public schools over the 2001-02 school year. Many other groups do extensive work on the issues explored in this report, including the American Library Association (ALA), the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS), the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) and the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).

While most Americans see the schools as places where children should learn how to think critically and be given the tools to help them become productive and engaged members of the American community, the Religious Right believes that the public schools should promote the particular religious views of the movement's leaders and avoid topics and ideas that might threaten those views.

In many instances, the tactics of Religious Right groups are unchanged from previous years. Objections to popular and acclaimed books for children, like the Harry Potter series, are not so different from the complaints of a decade ago. Similarly, the same efforts that Religious Right activists have long been known for - mandating sectarian religious instruction and creationism for example - still persist today. But the landscape has changed in many ways, often reflecting a larger Religious Right victory.

In past reports, PFAWF has documented countless attempts to censor comprehensive sex education in public schools. Those efforts have largely been replaced by the quiet dominance of abstinence-only sex education curricula. In this case, the Religious Right may have lost local battles along the way, but they have won federal funding. In the case of science education and anti-gay activity, the Right is still drawing its battle plans. But this much is clear - the Religious Right remains more focused on public schools than ever.

We are mindful, of course, that even without the Right's destructive efforts, our schools face steep challenges. Some public schools, especially in our urban areas, aren't safe and aren't working. As a society, we have allowed devastating inequities in our public education system to go unchallenged and we are paying the price for that apathy, both in failing our children and in giving ammunition to public education's enemies. People For the American Way Foundation remains committed to improving public education through sound policies that serve the public interest.

This is a critical moment for public education in America. A growing public commitment to investing in our schools is making education a top priority. The Religious Right's efforts - whether to divert money from public schools through vouchers, undermine the quality of science education, or gut meaningful sexuality education - all run counter to the larger goal of strengthening public schools. The outcome of these struggles at the local and national levels will be crucial to the future of education in America.
 

Used with the permission of People For the American Way.
For updates and resources, visit
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=12

School Loses Prayer Appeal

By Christa Landon

On August 24, 2004, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that a school district may not offer
prayers at mandatory staff meetings
, regardless of whether the teacher who complained about them is
present.

Warnock sued the district in 1999, on the grounds that the prayers at mandatory staff meetings openly
promoted Christianity and that district officials harassed him. The lower court awarded $1,000 to
Warnock -- rejecting the teacher's claim that he should receive more money because he was harassed
after complaining. It said other "perceived slights and personal fears" did not rise to a constitutional
violation.

The federal appeals court in St. Louis affirmed that the U.S. District Court in Little Rock was right to issue an injunction against prayers during staff meetings at the DeValls Bluff School District, but did so for the wrong reasons. The higher court ruled that the injunction benefiting Steve Warnock, an art teacher and school bus driver, should have been granted because the DeValls Bluff School District endorsed a religion -- not just because Warnock was offended.

The appeals court decision stated:

"We believe that prayers at mandatory teacher meetings and in-service training conveys ... a decisive endorsement....It is the government's endorsement of a particular religious message that constitutes the constitutional violation here, not the effects of official prayers on Mr. Warnock's psyche..."  The appeals court did agree that that Superintendent Charles Archer, teachers and students could wear religious jewelry and T-shirts under First Amendment rights to free speech and free exercise.

See also: http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/08/24/religion.school.ap/index.html

And what about your right to wear a pentagram?

Here's a legal precedent in your favor:

SEIFFERLY VS. LINCOLN PARK SCHOOL DISTRICT

Her high school siezed her pentagram and put her on indefinite suspension, claiming that it was a gang symbol.  But Ms. Seifferly successfully sued, and this landmark case has set the legal precedent protecting the equal right of young Pagans to express their religious beliefs.

See also: pentagrams
 

Press Release
from TeachingAboutReligion.com

Teaching About Religion
Web Site

"TEACHING ABOUT RELIGION" WEB SITE ASSISTS TEACHERS WITH TROUBLESOME TOPIC

Contact:   
Dr. Mynga Futrell
Instructional Systems, Sacramento, CA
E-mail:  instrnsys@aol.com
Voice  800-666-9796
Fax  916-447-2170

SACRAMENTO, CA   August 27, 2004.

Good teaching requires self-confidence in navigating subject matter, but one topic makes many teachers feel they are walking on marbles. The delicate subject is religion.

States now typically include the topic in social studies curricula, but classroom teachers rarely get adequate training or guidance in this area.

Fortunately for public school educators, who must treat religion academically, there is a Web site that provides useful teaching resources and "How-To" advice at
HTTP://WWW.TEACHINGABOUTRELIGION.ORG.

Teaching about Religion with a View to Diversity: Worldview Education sets the theme for the Web site's wealth of on-line materials. Resources include background information on religious and nonreligious worldviews, religion demographics for the nation, crucial background information, links to important Web resources, position papers on vital topics, and even a methods mini-course to help teachers work toward pedagogic neutrality. The site's table of OKs and Not OK treats lessons and discussions, homework, holidays, teaching values, and many other authoritative topics.

Teachers need such a resource, especially when a contemporary tempest arises around something like the recent "under God" in the Pledge controversy. In a tumultuous setting, it's important for a teacher to get facts and guidance to inform youngsters accurately and objectively.

Curricular ground keeps shifting, too, such as when new mandates come down from governmental agencies, and when new criteria for textbooks are instituted regarding the handling of religious matters. For example, this happened recently in California regarding social studies. The state department asked that "nonbelief" join with "belief" as something educators would treat respectfully and explain as protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Instruction would need to incorporate examples of "secular" as well as "religious" thinkers of history, again adding to the multiple factors teachers would have to consider.

Teachers need an all-encompassing perspective of our nation's religious diversity, says one of the site developers, Mynga Futrell.

Public schools serve all students. It's important to be sensitive to constitutional implications.  When providing background basics on diverse worldviews, this Web site takes a distinctly civic slant and spurs educators to focus on civic pluralism and justice.

Teaching about Religion with a View to Diversity: Worldview Education serves teachers, principals, and curriculum and teacher training specialists. The site provides varied resources to the educational community to facilitate teaching about diverse worldviews.  
HTTP://WWW.TEACHINGABOUTRELIGION.ORG.


GreenView:
Pagan commentary on the news


Teaching about Religion


EDITORIAL/OPINION:

On first glance, and with only five timid references to Pagans, this seems to be an academically correct, clinically wrong treatise on the current American public school system of virtual Christian madrassas. Many Pagan and Atheist school children currently express their personal religion at their own peril from other students, teachers, school officials and outside ministers in our public school systems.

It is possible that this document has been warped by assumed (inflated?) numbers of school children in each religion rather than an in-school empirical study of how the Constitution is routinely trashed and the effect on non Christian school children.

How can you accurately count Pagan and Atheist school children if there is a constant atmosphere of religious intolerance? Obviously, if, from the president down to most school teachers, religion is treated as a sole truth of conservative Christians, what good does a guidebook on a "worldview" of religious tolerance do for teachers?

However, like the Freedom Forum's "Finding Common Ground", which helped to form the foundation of President Clinton's myopic public school policy, this treatise may do the same:

http://www.freedomforum.org/
templates/document.asp?documentID
=3979

http://www.ed.gov/Speeches/08-1995/religion.html


Because Pagans were not involved in earlier religion & education studies, they and their legitimate concerns and problems were easily dismissed as a fringe element.

I recommend that Pagan parents, teachers and school administrators become more publicly outspoken.

A start may be with contacting Dr. Mynga Futrell (see story left) about the apparent reality of public school systems and Pagan school children today.

If for nothing else, Pagans should dedicate achieving a school experience free of religious intolerance to the memory of Tempest, the Michigan Pagan child who may have been driven to suicide by her reported harassing classmates and apparently unseeing school teachers.

Loch Sloy!

Tuan Today
"Tuan MacCarrill/MacParthalon,
forever the Celtic story!"

Lowell McFarland <lowell@optonline.net>


         **************************

Lowell is a Pagan elder who has spent decades raising the political consciousness of the Pagan movement. He is also, we are proud to report, a regular contributor to Pagan Institute Report.
 
Kansas Pagan Unity Campaign and Pagans United Press Release

Wiccan teen needs help in discrimination case
June 30, 2004

Fifteen year old Rachel Sura, a Wiccan, is
being forced to attend church services and has been denied access to religious material by Francis Townsdin of Hoisington Youth Home. The Kansas Courts have refused to get involved, stating that "the court cannot order Hoisington Youth Home to accommodate these requests. The court suggests that Rachel Sura request only one or two books at a time and only those dealing with her religion and suggests that she request private time to meditate." Jean Sura, mother, and Paula Hofaker, attorney at law, have appealed the decision of the Kansas court system.

The Kansas chapter of the Pagan Unity Campaign and Pagans United, in a joint motion, would like to remind the Kansas Courts that Wicca is a federally recognized and protected religion and that it is the courts place to get involved when the child's religious freedoms are being impeded upon by the group home in question.

We would also like to remind Kansas Child Protective Services that it is their duty to protect the rights of children to the fullest extent of the law. By allowing Francis Townsdin and Hoisington Youth Home to force Rachel Sura to attend church service, and to deny her access to religious materials, they have neglected their duty to the child, and to the state of Kansas. Furthermore, we would like to offer our full support to Jean and Rachel Sura as they appeal the decision of the Courts. Both Kansas PUC and Pagans United will exhaust all possible resources available to us in our fight for Rachel Sura.

"The right to worship God according to the dictates of conscience shall never be infringed; nor shall any person be compelled to attend or support any form of worship; nor shall any control of or interference with the rights of conscience be permitted, nor any preference be given by law to any religious establishment or mode of worship. No religious test or property qualification shall be required for any office of public trust, nor for any vote at any elections, nor shall any person be incompetent to testify on account of religious belief." Kansas Bill of Rights, Article 7

"To be a bona fide religious belief entitled to protection under either the First Amendment or Title VII, a belief must be sincerely held, and within the believer's own scheme of things religious." USCA Const. Amend 1: Civil Rights Act 1964 701 et seq., 717 as amended 42 USCA 2000-16.

"Wicca is a Federally recognized religion. Even the military recognizes this and provides space on military installations and ships for Wiccans to practice their religion. The people involved in this case are clearly in the wrong and need to review the law and the U.S. Constitution before they make any further decisions in this case." Laura Wandrie, Pagans United President, June 2004

"There were no stipulation placed in the Constitution about "once you are old enough" or "as long as you believe such", the right to freedom of religion should apply to all ages and all faiths. Rachel Sura has been let down by the very state, agencies, and court system which are supposed to be in place to protect her. Those involved should rethink their positions and place themselves back in accordance with the laws they are supposed to uphold." Angie Mae, Kansas Pagan Unity Campaign State Chair, June 2004

The Kansas chapter of the Pagan Unity Campaign and Pagans United would like to encourage Pagan citizens to get involved by writing to both the courts and CPS to remind them of their responsibility to protect the rights of Rachel Sura by putting a stop to Hoisington Youth Home violation's of her basic rights. We ask you to support and defend the rights of Jean and Rachel Sura's claim with any and all legal means available to you.

You can contact CPS at:
Children and Family Services
915 S.W. Harrison, Room 551-S
Topeka, KS 66612-1570
Information: (785) 296-4653
Fax: (785) 368-8159

For more information, contact:
Angie Mae - KS PUC (
ankheera@y...),
Laura Wandrie - Pagans United (
administration@p...)
 

Wiccan Teen forced to attend church services,
denied books


Call to action!

From: Kansas Pagan Unity Campaign and Pagans United
Date: June 30, 2004
Subject: Wiccan teen needs help in discrimination case
Contact: Angie Mae- KS PUC ankheera@yahoo.com,
                 Laura Wandrie- Pagans United
                administration@pagansunited.com


Fifteen year old Rachel Sura, a Wiccan, is being forced to attend church services and has been denied
access to religious material by Francis Townsdin of Hoisington Youth Home. The Kansas Courts have
refused to get involved, stating that "
the court cannot order Hoisington Youth Home to accommodate
these requests. The court suggests that Rachel Sura request only one or two books at a time and only
those dealing with her religion and suggests that she request private time to meditate
." Jean Sura,
mother, and Paula Hofaker, attorney at law, have appealed the decision of the Kansas court system.

The Kansas chapter of the Pagan Unity Campaign and Pagans United, in a joint motion, would like to
remind the Kansas Courts that Wicca is a federally recognized and protected religion and that it is the
courts place to get involved when the child's religious freedoms are being impeded upon by the group
home in question. We would also like to remind Kansas Child Protective Services that it is their duty to
protect the rights of children to the fullest extent of the law. By allowing Francis Townsdin and
Hoisington Youth Home to force Rachel Sura to attend church service, and to deny her access to
religious materials, they have neglected their duty to the child, and to the state of Kansas.

Furthermore, we would like to offer our full support to Jean and Rachel Sura as they appeal the decision
of the courts. Both Kansas PUC and Pagans United will exhaust all possible resources available to us in
our fight for Rachel Sura.

"The right to worship God according to the dictates of conscience shall never be infringed;

nor shall any person be compelled to attend or support any form of worship;

nor shall any control of or interference with the rights of conscience be permitted,

nor any preference be given by law to any religious establishment or mode of worship.

No religious test or property qualification shall be required for any office of public trust, nor for any vote at any elections, nor shall any person be incompetent to testify on account of religious belief."                      

----- Kansas Bill of Rights, Article 7


"To be a bona fide religious belief entitled to protection under either the First Amendment or Title VII, a belief must be sincerely held, and within the believer's own scheme of things religious."
----- USCA Const. Amend 1: Civil Rights Act 1964 701 et seq.,
         717 as amended 42 USCA 2000-16


"Wicca is a Federally recognized religion. Even the military recognizes this and provides space on military installations and ships for Wiccans to practice their religion. The people involved in this case are clearly in the wrong and need to review the law and the U.S. Constitution before they make any further decisions in this case."
----- Laura Wandrie, Pagans United President, June 2004


"There were no stipulation placed in the Constitution about "once you are old enough" or "as long as you believe such", the right to freedom of religion should apply to all ages and all faiths. Rachel Sura has been let down by the very state, agencies, and court system which are supposed to be in place to protect her. Those involved should rethink their positions and place themselves back in accordance with the laws they are supposed to uphold."
----- Angie Mae, Kansas Pagan Unity Campaign State Chair, June 2004

The Kansas chapter of the Pagan Unity Campaign and Pagans United would like to encourage Pagan
citizens to get involved by writing to both the courts and CPS to remind them of their responsibility to
protect the rights of Rachel Sura by putting a stop to Hoisington Youth Home violation's of her basic
rights. We ask you to support and defend the rights of Jean and Rachel Sura's claim with any and all
legal means available to you.

You can contact CPS at:

Children and Family Services
915 S.W. Harrison, Room 551-S
Topeka, KS 66612-1570
Information: (785) 296-4653
Fax: (785) 368-8159

Thumbprint Needed To Ride the School Bus? 
Have your thumb ready to ride the bus

Pinellas schools ponder a $2-million system that would require students to use their thumbprint to get
on the bus.

By NORA KOCH, Times Staff Writer
Published February 28, 2004

The Pinellas school system is ready to approve a new technology that uses student fingerprints to
keep track of who is riding school buses.

Beginning in the fall, the fingerprint system would identify students as they board and leave. The goal
is to ensure they are getting on the right bus and getting off at the right stop.

School officials say the $2-million project will save money and dramatically improve safety for
students, whose fingerprints will serve as authorization to board and disembark.

If the School Board approves the proposal March 9, Pinellas will become one of four Florida school
districts in the process of implementing Global Positioning Systems with a student-tracking system.

"This is Management 101 in transportation. Now we will have good, factual information that we can use
in a very timely manner to make our services as good as humanly possible," said Terry Palmer, the
district's transportation director.

But some parents and national organizations are concerned about the implications of fingerprinting
45,000 bus riders, some as young as 5.

"This is probably a really good idea, but in my mind it was just this terrible feeling, like they're watching
my kids wherever they go," said Nancy McKibben, mother of three teenagers at Palm Harbor University
High School and president of the school's PTSA.

Critics say programs of this nature raise significant privacy concerns and teach students at a young age to accept what amounts to a "Big Brother" surveillance society.

"We are conditioning these children to understand that they have no personal space, no personal
privacy," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Program on Technology
and Liberty.

The School Board has given administrators a preliminary go-ahead, which allowed the district to put the proposal out for bid. Last week, the district sent schools a brief outline of the project to include in
school newsletters.

"If my child was in elementary school, I would welcome this with open arms and say, "please, please,
tell me my kid got on the bus and got off the bus,"' said School Board chairwoman Jane Gallucci.

Gallucci said the district plans to cover the system's $2-million price tag with savings from construction projects that came in under budget and from sources that are separate from monies for classroom costs and teacher salaries.

Superintendent Howard Hinesely said the district also plans to apply for a federal Homeland Security
grant that could reimburse some of the cost.

In three years, the expense should be recouped through efficiency savings, Palmer said.

The state reimburses local districts for some transportation costs, based on the number of students
riding the bus. With more accurate computerized accounting, Palmer said, the district will get more
money from the state.

Palmer said the closer monitoring of bus routes and timetables will reduce driver costs by shaving 15
minutes per day per driver. That will lead to at least $432,000 in annual savings, he said.

School bus safety has been getting more attention since a January 2002 bus hijacking in Pennsylvania.
A Berks County school bus carrying 13 students was overtaken by a man with a rifle, and found in
Maryland six hours later when the hijacker turned himself into police.

Now districts want to keep track of where students are at all times. Many schools require identification
cards with sensors or bar codes to log students in and out of schools, and some have started using
similar devices on school buses.

Fingerprints, which can't be loaned out or traded between students, are the latest bus identification tool.

Under the Pinellas plan, the district's nearly 700 buses will be equipped with GPS transponders, student
identification devices and communications equipment and software.

The system will allow the district to monitor the fleet's safety performance, watching out for speeding,
railroad crossing procedures, stops and compliance with route assignments. The program also will
provide detailed data on how many students use specific stops, and the efficiency of routes, particularly useful as the district adapts to the choice program.

Michelle Bianco of St. Petersburg put her three young children on a bus for the first time last week. Until
then, she had been driving Travis, a kindergartener, and Trevor and Erika, third- and fourth-graders, to
Jamerson Elementary School.

"I was a nervous wreck," she said. "I even followed the bus to school the first day."

Bianco felt she had reason to worry. On its morning trip, the bus drops off children at another
elementary school before taking the rest to Jamerson. There have been times when kids have gotten
off at the wrong school and a school official has had to go pick them up.

She thinks a fingerprint system would be a good idea. Not only would it prevent children from getting
lost, she said she has no qualms about her children's privacy being compromised.

"I wouldn't be concerned about a privacy issue, because I know the School Board is very concerned
about not letting anyone get hold of that information," she said.

School officials and the software company, GeoSpatial Technologies Inc., said student data will be safe.
Fingerprints will be encrypted into a binary number, which will be linked to the student's school ID
number. The bus database will be password protected, and kept separate from the database that holds
a student's personal information.

But the privacy implications of such programs are "nightmarish," said Erich Wasserman, executive
director of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a nonprofit group in Philadelphia that
advocates for civil liberties in schools and colleges.

"All over the country you have all sorts of infringements on privacy for the under-18 crowd. And those
are time and time again substantiated for public safety," Wasserman said. "It's protection run amok."

But school officials say the safety benefits of the project far outweigh concerns about civil liberties.

"I think that's just another safety factor so we know the child was on the bus and got off the bus," said
School Board member Lee Benjamin, who supports the project but said he wants to consider it further.

- Staff writer Donna Winchester and Times researchers Caryn Baird and Cathy Wos contributed to this
report. Nora Koch can be reached at 727-771-4304 or nkoch@sptimes.com

RIDING THE BUS
Pinellas schools are expected to send parents this explanation of the proposed system for school bus
security:

"Next year our school system will install a new Global Positioning System (GPS) that will make riding
the bus safer, more efficient and will provide parents with a new sense of security about their child
riding the bus.

The new system (similar to what is already being used in private automobiles today) will allow the
transportation department to know if a student is riding the bus, if he or she is riding the right bus,
whether the student got on or off the bus at the right location and, in the event a child doesn't come
home, where the last stop was when the child left the bus.

If a bus is late for pick up or drop off of students, transportation will be able to pinpoint the exact
location of the bus and be able to keep schools and parents informed about arrival times. In addition, if
a bus has an emergency, there is a driver "panic button" that will immediately alert the dispatchers to
the problem and allow them to get assistance to the driver quicker.

By using a simple thumb printing process, each student will be accounted for on each bus in the district
and that information will allow us to monitor the location of each child during the ride to and from school.

While the primary use of the GPS system will be to ensure the safety of our students, the system also
will provide valuable information regarding the performance of our buses on the road and the efficiency
of our drivers. It will also assist us in providing data required by the state for purposes of financial
reporting for the students who ride our buses every day.

We are excited about this new system and hope that you will be too. Additional information will be
coming out soon to schools and parents as we prepare for next school year."

WHAT ARE THEY SAYING?

"This is Management 101 in transportation: Now we will have good, factual information that we can use
in a very timely manner to make our services as good as humanly possible,'' said Terry Palmer, Pinellas school district transportation director.

"This is probably a really good idea, but in my mind it was just this terrible feeling, like they're watching
my kids wherever they go,'' said Nancy McKibben, mother of three teenagers at Palm Harbor University
High School, and president of the school's PTSA.

"We are conditioning these children to understand that they have no personal space, no personal privacy," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Program on Technology and Liberty.

"If my child was in elementary school I would welcome this with open arms and say "please, please, tell me my kid got on the bus and got off the bus,'?'' said School Board Chairwoman Jane Gallucci.

A primer on prints

Q: Does the Pinellas school system want to thumbprint all 112,000 students?

A: No. It wants to thumbprint the 45,000 students who ride buses. The prints will be encrypted into a
database and tied to the student's identification number. The system will be used only to track students as they get on and off school buses.

Q: Who will have access to the thumbprints? Will they be public records?

A: Only school district employees managing the databases will have access to the prints and student
data. The prints will not be public records.

Q: What if I refuse to have my children thumbprinted? Can they still ride a bus?

A: Yes. While parents can opt out, the district intends to explain to reluctant parents that there is no risk to printing their children. The database holding the prints will be password-protected and kept separate from another district database that holds student information.

Q: What happens to the thumbprints if the student drops out, transfers out of the district or graduates?

A: The prints will be deleted from the system.

- Source: Pinellas County Schools, PUBLIC DOMAIN.

http://www.stpetersburgtimes.com/2004/02/28/Tampabay/Have_your_thumb_ready.shtml

Press release from The Interfaith Alliance

Efforts to "Christianize" Alabama Public Schools
Meet Resistance from The Interfaith Alliance 

"A rough and rocky relationship has existed for some time now between segments of the Christian community and public schools. Growing partly out of integration, but also a clash with science, there are many believers who are convinced that public schools are waging war on their faith. The usual suspects are secular humanism, evolution and moral relativism - the triple threat! This sense of threat has prompted a variety of responses. There are ongoing efforts to "Christianize" public schools with the imposition of prayer, Bible reading and religious displays such as the Ten Commandments."

The Interfaith Alliance - Alabama - commentary:

.I understand the need to pass on to our children a legacy of faith. But there is also a profound challenge from our faith tradition that compels us to look beyond our own needs and embrace the needs of others." (Birmingham Post-Herald, "Christians belong in public schools," 04/02/04) 

Teaching ABOUT  Religion in Public Schools

Teaching About Religion in Public Schools

Teaching ABOUT religion is permitted in public schools, but drawing the line between academic teaching ABOUT religion and devotional teaching OF religion is problematic, especially since teachers are rarely trained to make such distinctions themselves. Such study is normally done at collegiate or graduate level, normally preceded by learning about religions utterly foreign to the community.

The 1995 Education Department guidelines state:

"Public schools may not provide religious instruction, but they may teach about religion, including the Bible or other scripture: the history of religion, comparative religion, the Bible (or other scripture)-as-literature, and the role of religion in the history of the United States and other countries all are permissible public school subjects. Similarly, it is permissible to consider religious influences on art, music, literature, and social studies. Although public schools may teach about religious holidays, including their religious aspects, and may celebrate the secular aspects of holidays, schools may not observe holidays as religious events or promote such observance by students."

The test case came in 2002, when a role-playing course about Islam was held in a 7th grade class. Students took on Muslim names, acted out Islamic religious rituals and dressed up in traditional Muslim outfits. Parents sued Byron Union School District near Oakland, California, alleging that a role-playing exercise violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. The case is still pending

Teachers are naturally concerned about how to develop curriculum which keeps within constitutional bounds.

ADL teaching about religion
Freedom Forum First Amendment Center
Religion and Public Education Resource Center
Teaching about Religion with a View to Diversity
TeacherServ from National Humanities Center

Press Release
from TeachingAboutReligion.com

Teaching About Religion
Web Site

"TEACHING ABOUT RELIGION" WEB SITE ASSISTS TEACHERS WITH TROUBLESOME TOPIC

Contact:   
Dr. Mynga Futrell
Instructional Systems, Sacramento, CA
E-mail:  instrnsys@aol.com
Voice  800-666-9796
Fax  916-447-2170

SACRAMENTO, CA   August 27, 2004.

Good teaching requires self-confidence in navigating subject matter, but one topic makes many teachers feel they are walking on marbles. The delicate subject is religion.

States now typically include the topic in social studies curricula, but classroom teachers rarely get adequate training or guidance in this area.

Fortunately for public school educators, who must treat religion academically, there is a Web site that provides useful teaching resources and "How-To" advice at

HTTP://WWW.TEACHINGABOUTRELIGION.ORG.

Teaching about Religion with a View to Diversity: Worldview Education sets the theme for the Web site's wealth of on-line materials. Resources include background information on religious and nonreligious worldviews, religion demographics for the nation, crucial background information, links to important Web resources, position papers on vital topics, and even a methods mini-course to help teachers work toward pedagogic neutrality. The site's table of OKs and Not OK treats lessons and discussions, homework, holidays, teaching values, and many other authoritative topics.

Teachers need such a resource, especially when a contemporary tempest arises around something like the recent "under God" in the Pledge controversy. In a tumultuous setting, it's important for a teacher to get facts and guidance to inform youngsters accurately and objectively.

Curricular ground keeps shifting, too, such as when new mandates come down from governmental agencies, and when new criteria for textbooks are instituted regarding the handling of religious matters. For example, this happened recently in California regarding social studies. The state
department asked that "nonbelief" join with "belief" as something educators would treat respectfully and explain as protected by the U.S. Constitution.

Instruction would need to incorporate examples of "secular" as well as "religious" thinkers of history, again adding to the multiple factors teachers would have to consider.

Teachers need an all-encompassing perspective of our nation's religious diversity, says one of the site developers, Mynga Futrell.

Public schools serve all students. It's important to be sensitive to constitutional implications.  When providing background basics on diverse worldviews, this Web site takes a distinctly civic slant and spurs educators to focus on civic pluralism and justice.

Teaching about Religion with a View to Diversity: Worldview Education serves teachers, principals, and curriculum and teacher training specialists. The site provides varied resources to the educational community to facilitate teaching about diverse worldviews.  
HTTP://WWW.TEACHINGABOUTRELIGION.ORG.
GreenView:
Pagan commentary on the news


Teaching about Religion

EDITORIAL/OPINION:

On first glance, and with only five timid references to Pagans, this seems to be an academically correct, clinically wrong treatise on the current American public school system of virtual Christian madrassas. Many Pagan and Atheist school children currently express their personal religion at their own peril from other students, teachers, school officials and outside ministers in our public school systems.

It is possible that this document has been warped by assumed (inflated?) numbers of school children in each religion rather than an in-school empirical study of how the Constitution is routinely trashed and the effect on non Christian school children.

How can you accurately count Pagan and Atheist school children if there is a constant atmosphere of religious intolerance? Obviously, if, from the president down to most school teachers, religion is treated as a sole truth of conservative Christians, what good does a guidebook on a "worldview" of religious tolerance do for teachers?

However, like the Freedom Forum's "Finding Common Ground", which helped to form the foundation of President Clinton's myopic public school policy, this treatise may do the same:

http://www.freedomforum.org/
templates/document.asp?documentID
=3979

http://www.ed.gov/Speeches/08-1995/religion.html


 

Because Pagans were not involved in earlier religion & education studies, they and their legitimate concerns and problems were easily dismissed as a fringe element.

I recommend that Pagan parents, teachers and school administrators become more publicly outspoken.

A start may be with contacting Dr. Mynga Futrell (see story left) about the apparent reality of public school systems and Pagan school children today.

If for nothing else, Pagans should dedicate achieving a school experience free of religious intolerance to the memory of Tempest, the Michigan Pagan child who may have been driven to suicide by her reported harassing classmates and apparently unseeing school teachers.



Loch Sloy!

Tuan Today
"Tuan MacCarrill/MacParthalon,
forever the Celtic story!"

Lowell McFarland <lowell@optonline.net>

 
Resources for Teaching about Religion in Public Schools


ADL teaching about religion

Freedom Forum First Amendment Center

Religion and Public Education Resource Center

Teaching about Religion with a View to Diversity

TeacherServ from National Humanities Center


Also see:
liberty_schools_archives.html

 

LEGAL HELP for Religious Freedom Cases
 

If you are a victim of religious discrimination or of a hate crime because of your religion,  you are not alone. The Pagan institutions below operate with extremely limited support, and are staffed only by volunteers, so the aid they can provide is limited to information, tracking, and referral.

When more Pagans are willing to support and expand the Pagan institutions to protect our religious liberties, more help will be available, and institutional discrimination itself may decline. 

Here ARE some resources:


"Pagan Student Rights" 

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/6069/student-rights.htm


Religion in Public Schools   LINKS to ALLIES


Religion in Public Schools
http://www.interfaithalliance.org/tiaf/tiafrips


Visit the web address below & tell your friends  

http://ga0.org/join-forward.html?domain=interfaith_action&r=R118LkY1uuF9

Sign up for Interfaith Action Center at:
http://ga0.org/interfaith_action/join.html?r=R118LkY1uuF9E

Other Allies

For ARCHIVAL  information on Paganism in public schools, go to |
liberty and public_schools_archives

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Last Updated July 5, 2007